


Now I Gotta Let You Go

by FloofyTMCCWritez, HuntersNLoathing (FloofyTMCCWritez)



Series: Dream SMP Fics [5]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Co-Written, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Evil Toby Smith | Tubbo, Genius Toby Smith | Tubbo, Heavy Angst, How is that not a tag, Human Experimentation, Hurt No Comfort, I Wrote this while listening to derivakat’s music, I swear, I’m so soft for karlnapity and tales from the SMP it’s not even a joke, Karl Jacobs-centric, Mad Genius Toby Smith | Tubbo, Memory Loss, Mentioned Dream SMP Ensemble, Multi, No beta we die like Karl’s memory, Polyamory, Song: Heat Waves (Glass Animals), Song: turn back time (Derivakat), Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, Web Series: Tales from the SMP, blue and turn back time specifically, but it is there, for like three second and it’s not that explicit, no happy ending, or at least depicted as evil, the comfort is for like three seconds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 18:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloofyTMCCWritez/pseuds/FloofyTMCCWritez, https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloofyTMCCWritez/pseuds/HuntersNLoathing
Summary: Karl had always wanted to tell his fiancés about his time traveling. Honest.It’s just, every time he tried, something happened.And now, he does, if by accident, but it doesn’t quite go right.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: Dream SMP Fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163696
Comments: 9
Kudos: 80





	Now I Gotta Let You Go

**Author's Note:**

> Personal head canon of mine is that the sherif in the Wild West is sir Billiam hiding in a new identity.

Karl had always wanted to tell his fiancés about his time traveling. Honest. 

It’s just, every time he tried, something happened.

The first time he was going to, Quackity ended up needing help with El Rapids. By the time they finished, he’d forgotten all about it for the promise of cuddles after Sapnap came home.

Another time, George needed help with Kinoko Kingdom.

Another, a fight broke out a little too close to his library for his comfort.

Really, he swore he wanted to tell them about it. Especially when he saw how worried they were when he returned from his travels, but he’d been so relieved by their presence after having to duel Mason. After seeing James slumped in the corner of the room, blood dripping down his chin and a large gash in his chest.

After seeing Drew’s head pinned behind the bookshelf. 

Every time he tried, something went wrong. 

He’d almost given up and accepted it as the Inbetween’s curse.

He was absently doodling James’ mask on a page of his journal when Quackity came up behind him.

“Yooooo, Karlos!” His sharp voice punctured the silence, and Karl looked up with a smile.

“Big Q! How’s it goin’, man?”

“Eh, not too bad, and you?”

Karl shrugged. 

“Hey, that’s pretty good, _mi corazón!_ ” Quackity sat down next to him on the ledge, and Karl made more room. “What is it?” He admitted after a moment. 

Karl chuckled, and pushed his book in between their laps. “A… friend of mine wore that mask when we met. He and I were pretty close after only a night.”

Quackity furrowed his eyebrows, beanie slipping slightly lower as he did so. 

“Oh really? Do I have to meet him?”

Karl frowned, and suddenly he saw blood on the mask, where James’ own liquid that Karl had desperately tried to stop leaking had splattered.

“That’d be kinda hard.” Karl shut his eyes and leveled his breathing, reminding himself through the soft contact of Quackity’s wing around him, feathers grazing his wrist, that he was not in Sir Billiam’s mansion anymore. 

Quackity snorted, unaware of the shift in Karl’s mood. “What, is he on some other server?”

Karl bit back a grim chuckle. “No, he’s… He’s been dead for a long time. Pretty sure he’s probably just bones now.”

“OH, I’m so sorry man, I wasn’t very considerate, do you want to talk about it?”

“Er, sure… Uh, he was really nice. We met at a masquerade dance in Sir Billiam’s mansion. He first starting chatting with Billiam about how his family left and his wife divorced.” Fond memories bubbled up as he was reminded of Sir Billiam’s response.

“Sir Billiam III?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“He was in one of Ghostbur’s books. He was exposed as a criminal and was later found to have adopted a new identity as a sheriff in a small town. He’s been dead for several centuries.”

Oh. Right. Quackity and Sapnap didn’t know. No one knew he was a time traveller. 

No one knew the truth of his adventures. No one knew how it hurt every time he saw versions of his fiancés die, how their past and future lives ended because of his presence.

Helga, a woman who slept around with everyone and was very open about it. However, when she was alone, he’d seen how she’d broken, his fiancé’s soul only trying to protect itself. He’d only observed this time, and it was still enough to destroy their town.

Drew P. Penis, a nudist who’d just happened to stumble upon their party. The first to die, and yet one of the kindest people he’d met. He still shared his Quackity’s brash personality and lack of a filter.

(And if Karl admitted, which he wouldn’t, he looked amazing.)

Cletus, a fisherman and coincidently the lover of the body Karl had possessed during his stay in Mizu. He’d missed Sapnap then, but Benji had been an addition in their relationship. He’d been glad he could fearlessly run his fingers through Cletus’ hair during his stay.

Jack Kanoff, a bandit who lacked fear. He’d been robbing Ranboo’s soul, John John, and Karl had gone weak looking into those eyes. He’d forgotten, for a moment, he was supposed to be defending John as he stared into his eyes until he commented on it.

But then Connor (Who, curiously enough, went by the same name and wore the same outfit. Maybe he’d ask some questions?) had broken the moment, and he returned to his persona.

He sighed, and shut his book. Now would be as good a time as ever, he supposed.

“Follow me, and I’ll explain.”

“Oh no, no, no, _mi amor._ You’re explaining right here, right now.” Quackity dug his heels into the ground, and Karl frowned.

“It’ll be easier for you to believe me if you follow me. I have proof, because what I’m going to say is going to sound… Crazy and unbelievable.” 

“Our fiancé’s close friend became a tyrant and manipulated him and his friend for his own personal gain as well as several others. A dead man’s ghost roams the land and is the complete opposite of his living self and adopted a sheep as his best friend. I don’t think you can surprise me, at this point.”

“Trust me, this is different than that. I promise I’ll explain, just _please follow me_.” Quackity blinked at the desperation in his voice, and followed without any more protests.

Karl led him to his library and stood in front of a bookcase. Grabbing it, he pulled it out and set it aside, Quackity stared wide eyed, and Karl entered.

“...Karl?” Quackity had dropped the pet names in that moment, but Karl just gestured for him to follow him.

“...’Tales from the SMP’? Karl, what is this?” Quackity ran his fingers on the cover of the book for the Lost City of Mizu, and Karl sighed.

“Open it.” Quackity did as asked, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

He read it aloud, and Karl found the page on his own book, The Spiral seeming to shimmer slightly as it got closer to the symbol on his sweater. 

He handed the book to Quackity, and his fiancé read it, eyes wide as they glanced back and forth between the next and Karl. 

“I wanted to tell you guys earlier, I swear. Every time I’ve tried though, something happens.” 

Quackity’s eyes were wide as he just stared at Karl, and he fidgeted with the cuff of his sweater sleeve. 

“You’re a time traveller?” Karl nodded. “Why didn’t you stop anything? L’Manburg, Dream, Mexican Dream, Wilbur…”

“I’ve tried. Believe me.” Quackity’s eyes became filled with rage.

“NO! You could’ve fixed EVERYTHING! YOU COULD’VE STOPPED _EL HUEVO_! YOU’VE SEEN HOW MAD SAP GOT!” Karl flinched back, noticing how Quackity had switched to Spanglish in his rage. Before, he’d thought of it as adorable. Whenever some idiot had done something stupid, he’d rant about it, switching to Spanish mid-sentence before switching back.

Now, he was scared. Quackity stormed out of the library, journal splayed on the floor as The Spiral seemed to glow bright, taunting him.

 _You brought this onto yourself_ , it seemed to say, _you got too attached, even when we told you not to_.

He bit back sobs and tears, putting the books back.

(2 hours later, and he’d be sitting in Tubbo’s lab. Quackity’s stone-cold face stared at him through the bars as he was chained to a chair, a child bringing a saw to him.

3 hours prior to that, Karl would travel back to his time in a moment of Tubbo’s vulnerability and the Inbetween needing its stories preserved.

Fate promised him a sad ending. His fiancés’ history would be changed and distorted so much, him forgetter, and they would be myths.

Karl had tried to get a happy ending. Was this the price? He thought it was his memories, but perhaps the sadistic nature of the Inbetween wasn’t satisfied.

It never was

2 hours and thirty minutes prior, Quackity would ask what he was doing, and Karl would show a picture of a bird dancing.

Fate wouldn't be changed, and Karl’s was resigned to loneliness.)

**Author's Note:**

> :3 co-written with my lovely friend Hunter!


End file.
